How Oil Giant SLB Is Still Supporting Putin’s War Machine.
By Michael Posner
Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine has had devastating human consequences, with tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian military casualties. More than eight million Ukrainians have been internally displaced and another eight million have fled the country, creating Europe’s largest refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Russia’s vast oil reserves have been essential to Putin’s ability to fund this immoral war. SLB, a Houston-based oilfield services company formerly known as Schlumberger, has played a critical role in facilitating Russian oil production. The company is now doubling down and increasing its Russian footprint, putting profits over principle.
SLB is the world's largest offshore drilling company, with revenues exceeding $33 billion in 2023. It employs more than 110,000 people globally. As recently reported by the British-based advocacy group Global Witness, SLB has signed new contracts and recruited hundreds of staff in Russia, swooping in to expand its operations after its two largest U.S.-based competitors, Halliburton and Baker Hughes, sold their Russian businesses to their local managers. Since the invasion of Ukraine, SLB companies have patented 43 inventions in Russia and registered six proprietary computer programs there.
Read the full Forbes article.
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Michael Posner is the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance, Professor of Business and Society and Director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.